Designing the Pattern of Ecotourism Development in Khalkhal city using the Structural Interpretation Modeling Approach

Abstract Tourism is one of the main human needs in order to spend leisure time. From an economic point of view, for many countries, this industry is the main source of income, employment, private sector growth and infrastructure development. One of the attractive tourist areas for people and tourists is nature tourism or ecotourism. Ecotourism refers to a kind of tourism that tourists visit to visit natural resources and natural areas. This type of tourism emphasizes the attractiveness of the environment. This research is a qualitative-quantitative research method (in the framework of mixed research methodology) and from the point of view of applied purpose. At first, by studying the research literature, effective factors in the development of ecotourism were extracted and then, in interviewing the experts, the factors were categorized and then the prioritization was done using interpretive structural modeling. The results show that one of the most important factors that could enhance ecotourism development in this area is proper management. This factor can affect other factors and guide them towards sustainable development of tourism.